Daily Archives: April 12, 2017

Metal tends to lean toward hyperbole and words that the members involved with bands can’t quite live up to on record. It happens. It’s an extreme music form, things are meant to be over the top, and often band names, song titles, and album names can promise things that can’t always be delivered.

That takes us to new death metal force Extremity and their debut record “Extremely Fucking Dead.” On the surface, it seems like it’s putting a lot out there based on those words alone. But then you put this thing on, and holy shit if you’re not extremely fucking dead when it’s over. This six-track, nearly 27-minute debut record is the product of some super reliable, heavy hitting members of metal’s underground, namely guitarist/vocalist Marissa Martinez-Hoadley (Cretin), guitarist/vocalist Shelby Lermo (Vastum, Ulthar), bassist Erika Osterhout (Femacoffin, Necrosic), and drummer Aesop Dekker (Vhöl, Worm Ouroboros, and formerly of Agalloch). So, really, it should have been obvious from moment one that this thing was going to destroy, and that’s exactly what it does.

“Intro (Mortuus Est Valde)” is a quick piece that basically does what the title says it does: greet you at the horrifying door and pull you face first into the stench. “Crepuscular Crescendo” punishes right away, as the throaty growls and fierce leads do battle for your soul, with the only winner being bloodshed. It’s punchy death, both gritty and ugly, with the howl of, “There’s no escape from this hell!” bringing sobering reality you might not be ready to face. “Bestial Destiny” blisters and sends you into battle with Bolt Thrower-style guitar work that’s nasty and satisfying. The track stomps your guts, while Martinez-Hoadley and Lermo trade wails and screams. The track charges hard into fiery soloing, and the vicious back end of the song brings everything to a bloody end.

“Chalice of Pus” not only sounds delicious, it also delivers animalistic fury that should scare the shit out of you. The band hits a heavy, muddy groove as the vocals choke you to near unconsciousness, and the soloing fans the flames of chaos. The guttural madness spreads like plague from there, burying you in total ugliness. “Fatal Immortality” stomps the ground so hard, it practically measures seismically, and the growls of, “A smoking gun, a bullet in your head!” pay off in deadliness and backhand-across-the-mouth insults. The track is devastating and purely driven to salt your wounds. The closing title cut tears into flesh, as the growls maul any sense you have remaining. Striking soloing and sore throat-inducing vocals mix, as the album title is snarled over and over again, as they beat their point into you. Finally, as the song chugs and chews away at your throat, you receive mercy in the oddest of final sounds: a flatline stretching to the record’s end.

Extremity pays dividends repeatedly on “Extremely Fucking Dead,” a pure death metal assault that doesn’t mess around and goes right for the throat. This band isn’t relying on their members’ well-respected resumes and sound as hungry and vicious as a group trying to earn their first reputation. This is a fat-trimmed, gut-wrenching display that’s bloody, violent, and ripe for repeated listens.